The Brooklyn Nets arguably have the best roster in the NBA after acquiring James Harden to team up with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. While their bench is weakened due to the trade, they still have players such as Joe Harris and Jeff Green. How does the Miami Heat size up against this Brooklyn team?
The main three players in the Miami Heat’s lineup are Tyler Herro, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. They also have specialists such as Duncan Robinson and a really well-rounded defensive anchor in Avery Bradley. They do have one thing that the Nets don’t have: depth.
On the other hand, the Nets have three of the best scorers in the game with Irving, Harden and Durant. It’s reasonable to see the Heat stop two of them alone, but the addition of Harden puts them over the top. You have to guess Adebayo guards Durant, Butler guards Harden, and Herro, Dragic, or Bradley would have to guard Irving.
However, it will be a very hard feat for Miami to shut down all three scorers. It’s simply not possible. The Nets also have DeAndre Jordan, who could pose a massive mismatch if they have someone such as Kelly Olynyk on him. This is where a move for someone such as Drummond would be beneficial.
The Heat will have to outscore the Nets because no one’s going to hold them to a low-scoring game if things click in Brooklyn. Miami has struggled so far on offense this season in some games and Robinson disappeared during the NBA Finals for a period of time before heating up.
Even if things in Brooklyn doesn’t click and it’s a massive mess, how is the team going to beat the Lakers? L.A. got significantly better during the offseason and certainly don’t have players coming off the bench where Miami could take them for granted like last season.
Herro will need to make a massive jump as stated before and Adebayo will need to be aggressive on the offensive end. Trading for another player who can create their own shots such as Victor Oladipo could be one of the bigger moves they can make this season.
Miami Heat fans who say this team is not good enough do not deserve to be bombarded by people saying they don’t have “the guts”. They are right and this team is not good enough. It’s more than going to the NBA Finals last year. Sure, they made it, but everyone else around them got better from a roster standpoint and they did not.
Without making a move to patch up some holes such as starting point guard, power forward, and in the interior, it is very unlikely that they will make it out of the East, let alone win the NBA Finals. It’s not a reason to panic, but it’s okay to be realistic and understand this roster needs improvement internally or from an external source.
It’s clear this roster is not good enough to beat the Nets or Lakers without some help. If you believe in this organization and its players, you also have to trust Pat Riley, because he’s going to need to make some moves to bring this team back to the NBA Finals for a second consecutive year.
